Bowra, Edward Collection

The two albums in the Edward Bowra Collection were owned either by Edward Charles MacIntosh Bowra (1841-1874), sinologist and botanist, or by his son C.A.V. Bowra (1869-1947). Bowra father and son served in the Imperial/Chinese Maritime Customs. This significant collection was donated to the Royal Society for Asian Affairs (RSAA), London by Brigadier E.V. Bowra OBE. In 2016 the Society sold the albums at public auction. Many of the photographs were taken in Ningbo and vicinity, and Beijing, in the late 1860s and 1870s.  These include rare work by Major J. C. Watson (1833-1908), Dr John Dudgeon (1837-1901) and John Thompson (1837-1921).  We are grateful to the RSAA for permission to digitise these and make them available here. 199 images. HPC refs: Bo01 and Bo02.